Still finding time to read

Just finished a good book. Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende. It is a historical novel, seems that's what I read any more. The setting starts in Chile, 1843 and follows this girl into adulthood and her journey to find her sweetheart who went to the gold rush in Ca. A great way to learn some history that is not found in the history books and get a feel for what life was like back then.

Have started another one that is a sort of mystery that jumps back and forth from the present to the 11th century and linking these 2 women together to reveal a secret. The title is Labyrinth by Kate Mosse.

I am sure I will get off on some other subject soon. I have a couple of Deepok Chopra's newer books, but have to read them in bits and pieces and then read it again. The Third Jesus is very interesting and I think he has some real insight that we can all learn from without taking anything away from what you may already believe. That is what I like about him. He is not trying to browbeat anyone into accepting his beliefs. Just opening the door to make us think for ourselves and follow our own journey.

Had my first massage therapy session yesterday. I can tell you it won't be my last. Have been having alot of trouble with the muscles across my back and shoulders and neck. I am fine all day and can work in the yard and at the gym but when I lay down in bed it starts hurting and really messes up my sleep. Have tried the chiropractor and no change. I followed my gut feeling (something we need to do more often) and felt I needed the muscles worked on, not my spine. So we will see. I know that it made it worse for last nite I slept very little after 2 AM. So I am hoping that a couple sessions will loosen up the muscles and get the knots and tightness out of them.

Thought for the day: "Spirituality isn't something I believe in. It is what and who I am: a spiritual being having a human experience, as the French philosopher and priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin profoundly said."

Guess we will just have to walk!

Gas just went up 20 cents per gal. in the last 2 days!!! That makes it 3.79 in our little community. How can they do that? It is crimminal! Of course it has nothing to do with Memorial Day Weekend, right. We are so stupid if we believe that. Of course IF it goes down it will be by 2 or 3 cents at a time and we will be so grateful.

I have no thought for the day, I am just MAD.

Girls with beer bellies

Did you ever post something that you regretted later. That was what I had done with this post, so now I am deleting it and leaving this apology. I think I was a little judgemental and could have been hurtful to some folks, even if I don't know you I have no right to do that. So there you have it. My first retraction.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, Its off to work I go!

Well I did it. I broke down and applied for a job, (only the "partest" time job I could get) I really don't want to work. (beats fist on table) But business has been so slow at the book store I just felt I needed to dust off my nursing skills and pick up a little work. Actually I am looking forward to getting back in the swing of things. I will be working one shift a week at a place called Health and Rehab. It is a skilled nursing facility. I put my application in Mon. and did the pee test, and they called me on Wed to ask when I wanted to come in and get orientation started. So there you have it.

Things are going well with the gal that moved in out to our little farm. We have been getting the rest of our stuff out of the garage. I was out there this morning and it was so sad to see her stuff piled up, all covered with mud and so much has something broken. Bless her heart, she was happy to have her two old rockers, just need to do some gluing and cleaning. It is strange to see what got ruined and some fragile things like ceramic birdhouses not a chip. She is in love with the place and really wants to buy it, so I hope when the dust settles she can do just that. Maybe this was meant to be. She is getting the electricity switched to her name today. Maybe if she can buy it, I can negotiate with the agent and say, hey I found my buyer, can you come down on your commission?? Seems fair to me. When we sold our house in Nv. we found our own buyer and the agent got all the commission. I thought that was stinking. Boy I bet those folks are sorry they bought that place, it was when the market was high and now I know it is worth alot less than they paid for! So glad we got out when we did. Nevada is one of the states that has had the most foreclosures.

Thought for the day:Worry looks around, Sorry looks back, Faith looks up.

Tornado! Wow, where to start?

Saturday's big tornado in SW Mo was too close. It is true what they say. It sounds like a train coming.
There are many stories and there are 14 dead in our county so far. More when you count the ones in Oklahoma. So my story is pretty insignificant, but to say I am here and unharmed and family is OK. But here it is.

We were having a family gathering at my Brother's house for our oldest brother who came in from NC. I have 2 sisters in the area also. We were seeing the sky looking bad and knew we were in for a storm. So both sisters headed home. One a few blocks away and the other about 12 miles. Just after they left the sirens started, so we 4 that were left at the house started watching the sky. Suddenly we heard the train sound and the lights went out. We crowded in the bathroom with the dogs in arms. (one was hiding under the bed) In a few min. we peaked out and the sky was real bright. Found some huge hail balls in the yard. And started hearing all kinds of police and ambulance sirens. I went home about 10 miles to the so. and was shocked by what I saw. I will post a couple pictures here but it is just the tip. Seems the tornado came out of Oklahoma, and made a path across country and hit the west and south side of our little town and then kept going. Many houses lost. Haven't heard a count yet.

We have one family that we heard their story and our old neighbor from out to our farm is a very good friend of this gal, Debbie is a single mom with a 7 year old daughter. She, her daughter, her boyfriend, and the Old neighbor with her 2 kids were in Debbie's trailer house so of town when it hit. They tried to get out and it was to late, the boyfriend was sucked thru a glass door and cut real bad. The rest were all thrown out on the deck and as the trailer began to twist apart, they were all, and I repeat ALL thrown into a huge hole where just a few min before a big tree had stood. Then the trailer house rolled over the top of them!! I still get chills just thinking about it. Debbie said she just knew she was going to die. The boyfriend spent a couple days in ICU and is home now to recuperate.

You know how when you hear about a disaster you always wish you could do something to help. Well we decided that we have a house sitting empty waiting to sell out to our little 20 acre farm, which is on the north side of town. So we offered it to Debbie to live in for awhile. It sure won't hurt us any and will give her some time to get things figured out. She has a couple of horses and they are OK and will be put in the pasture. I just feel grateful to be able to do something that will help someone.

So that is it for now from SW Missouri. My heart goes out to everyone who is suffering from their losses. There was 2 families who lost multiple lives. One was husb, wife, and 2 kids that the house fell in on them. And another that had 3 family members. We saw on the news this morning that a 21 year old firefighter died in the hospital yesterday from injuries. We was spotting the tornado and getting warnings out to help others.

IF you are safe and sound, count your blessings. We have many!!

Better think before you spend that IRS rebate check!

Folks, here is what will happen to your money:
If we spend the money at Wal-Mart, all the money will go to China.
If we spend it on gasoline, it will go to the Arabs.
If we purchase a computer, it will go to India.
If we purchase fruits and vegetables, it will go to Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala.
If we purchase a good car, it will go to Japan.
If we purchase useless stuff, it will go to Taiwan.

None of which will help the American Economy.
We need to keep that money here in America.
The only way to keep that money here at home is to spend it at yard sales, since those are the only businesses left in the U.S. where the money still stays in America.

Beer is cheaper than Gas??

Someone sent this to me in an e-mail. Made me remember the local gas station that quit posting its price. His sign just says Gas is High, Beer is Cheap. I laughed about it then asked my husband what would a gallon of beer cost and realized we could put beer in the gas tank cheaper! Now there is a thought.

Had a beautiful 2 days off. Built planter boxes, yes that was me out with the power saw and hammer. I am sort of handy that way. Makes me real proud of the results. Only needed help with the landscape timbers that I used across the front of one of the boxes, hubby had to fire up the chain saw to make my cuts for me. But used recycled redwood fencing boards for the rest. We have a recycle place locally that we can get a good soil mix real cheap. I think I mentioned it before. And we got several huge bags of Miracle Grow potting soil for 2$ a bag. They had been damaged and have tape over the ends. Who cares. They sell for around 15$ a bag in the store. Still having fun feeding the orioles. Have a nephew who is a photographer who wants to come over and stake out a spot to get some pictures. I figure we can take the screen off the window and open it up and he can sit in the kitchen real quiet and they will come right up on the porch rail. Should make him bring his own oranges!!

Thought for the day: The 20% rule, You only wear 20% of your clothes 80% of the time. I think that is true!

Orioles eating us out of house and home!

This isn't a very good pic. but hope to get better ones this weekend. I put a bowl with a chunk of orange on the railing of the back porch this morning and had 5 fighting over it plus at least 4 more in the tree and on the grape jelly. I don't mind the cheaper grape jelly but hey, these oranges are a little expensive. But they are sure pretty birds. I will try to get a short video of them if I can.

My thought for the day came from a friend in Ia. He told me about this message on a tombstone he saw years ago in Texas. Read it slowly and think about it. The poor guy must have suffered alot in his life:

For all the happiness mankind can gain

Its not from joy or pleasure

But relief from pain

How can I find time to read?

Well its not easy, but seems I am in the mode to read stuff about the 11th century. I had reported on reading The Other Boleyn Girl. Now I am into another book from that era. It is The Pillars of The Earth, by Ken Follett. I have had so many customers tell me it was the best book they ever read. Sooo I am into it now. The next one that I have read a few pages of that looks good is one of Oprah's book club books, Daughter of Fortune, by Isabel Allende. It has a setting in Chile in 1849.

Seems as you get older you just can't find time to do everything you want to do. The days seem to go by so fast. Guess we need to make the best of each day and fill it with everything we can.

Thought for the day: Life is like a roll of toilet paper, the closer to the end the faster it goes!

We've Gone to the Birds!

Beautiful weekend, lots of yard work, and sore muscles! We are developing quite a bird sanctuary in our back yard. We have 4 different kinds of woodpeckers. The most gorgeous one is in this picture. It is the Red Headed Woodpecker. We have seen at least 2 of them. This view is from his back, he came up to the little pan that we put birdseed in, on the porch railing.

The other pic is of the Red Head on the ground with some doves.

Then we spotted hummingbirds so got a feeder out for them. Well these Orioles showed up. As near as we can count there are 5 males and one female. They were trying to hang onto the hummingbird feeder to drink, so we found our oriole feeder and put it out. Then we thought that there were so many of them and they were hanging around, we put some jelly out in a bowel on the railing of our little porch on the utility building. Then we put a bowel with some oranges pieces out. Well they just hop from one to the other and slurp up the jelly. Not sure but think the strawberry is winning out over the grape! I will get some pictures of them soon. Have to sit out in a chair quietly and wait for them.

Plus there are lots of blue jays, robins, gold finch, and then in the evening the doves and cowbirds come in. We may have to take out a loan to buy bird feed. This is almost as bad as all the quail we fed when we lived in Nevada. There was a flock of over 100 that swarmed the back yard every day to get their share from us.

Thought for the day: Put yourself first. You can't be anything for anybody else unless you take care of yourself.

Rugs for Sale!!

OK I am ready to sell some rugs.

Got 3 more in. of rain last nite, lots of lightning. Scared dog had to sleep huddled next to my legs. Sort of hard to sleep with a big dog quaking and shaking. We got 4 in just a few days ago. sure making the grass grow. And the trees are leafing out so nice. Glad when they get fully leafed out, Then the neighbors can't see me sitting on the back porch in my nighty.

Any one wants to buy a rug, leave me your e-mail address. I will prob list some on e-bay in my e-store. Want to get restrung this week and make a batch of table runners and placemats.

Thought for the day: When governments fear the people there is liberty, when people fear the government there is tyranny: Thomas Jefferson

Now where was I?

Been busy and seems the busier you are the less you can think of to write. Now that doesn't make much sense. So lets see. I have joined the YMCA. That was a good thing. Did the pool exercise Mon. They sure have a nice pool. Was going today to use the weights but it was such a beautiful morning I just headed into town where my store is and did my walk thing. My sister calls me a street walker!! But there are alot of hills and it really does make a good walk and if I take different streets I get to be barked at by different dogs! The weather is warming up though and they gym will be alot nicer to workout in, as it gets pretty hot to be walking after 9 AM.

Been weaving rugs, Got a cute green plastic tub to put them in for selling.

Spent my "weekend" off working on our garden space, will take a pic later. It is Railroad ties stacked 2 high. We had alot of ground up tree stumps rotting down all winter and then hubby hauled a couple pickup loads of this great soil from a recycle place. It is part potting soil, manure, and top soil. Only costs 10$ for a big front end loader scoop. I think we got 3 scoops in all and will make great garden soil. Then got my wave petunias planted. Sun did a book sale in the driveway to get rid of some excess books, then hauled the rest, about 20 boxes, to a guy for this little auction that he does weekly. I don't care what I get, just want to be rid of them. They are the left overs from the 3,000 books I bought last fall from the flea market booth that was going out of business.

A week ago went down to Ar. to see my daughter and grand daughters. Was a good trip. The twins will be 15 later this mo. and the oldest (19 year old) one is going to be a mama this summer. Soooooooo I guess that will make me the youngest great grandmother in history!! Can't believe it. Gee, I can't believe my daughter will be a grandma! Well on that note, I best get busy here and do something productive.

Food for Thought:
"You don't need organized religion to connect with the universe. Often a church is the only place you can go to find peace and quiet... But it shouldn't be confused with connecting with one's spirit." -- Alice Walker

Meet my Baby!

Well there it sits on it's new throne. Ain't she perty? I am all ready to start. I will try to add another picture of the favorite rug that I made. If you click on the picture you can get a bigger one to see better.

Oh, I need to correct something that I posted earlier. I did not go to Ia. to learn to loom! I learned to weave! I guess thats like saying I am going to car, when I mean drive. Laugh is on me.

I had a great vacation. I highly recommend including learning something new on your vacation. Makes it so much more memorable. Of course all the midnight chats and gallons of coffee that I was "forced" to drink only added to the frivolity. I took alot of pictures of the little town of Bentonsport. Found out that there are about 50 residents there now. Not sure how many during its hay day back in the late 1800's. It was a thriving river town with a mill and many industries. Most of the homes left are the old 2 story brick homes built at that time. Will add some of those next time. Lots of history there including a little of my own. As I lived for a short time in one of the little buildings on main street when I was about 8 years old. It was always called Dolly's House, ( I think Dolly was a naughty lady) Anyway it was just one room down stairs and one upstairs. It was moved a few years ago and is now a little shop that is open in the summer. The old bridge was converted to a walking bridge a number of years ago, I great part due to the efforts of my friends there. They saved it from being torn down to put the new bridge in. Now the new bridge is down stream a little and makes the entrance into town seem strange. I have walked across that old bridge many many times. It was a one way bridge, which meant that if you drove up the approach and another car was coming you had to back up to let them cross first. See later on when I was about 14, I lived in a house on the other side of the river. We are talking about the Des Moines River.

Thought for the day: Be willing to learn from your friends and family.

Whats it worth?

Total 943 miles driven.

Gas for trip $137.75.

Store closed 1 week. Lost Revenue ###$.

Price of used loom ###$.

Time spent with old friend and learning new skills, PRICELESS!!

Wish you were here!

Having a great time. I am still in Iowa and just have to share my "stuff" so far. Trip so far:

Saw a sign on a rural building, "Chop Shop, Custom Butchering."

Knew I was close to Ia. when I started noticing folks doing the little "wave." That's where you just lift your hand or a few fingers from the steering wheel to acknowledge the oncoming driver. Its an Iowa thing.

Was able to find the old "home place", well the place I lived for about 4 years at one time growing up. Haven't been past there for many years. Only thing left to recognize is a huge pine tree in the front yard and the old barn, oh and the 2 ponds. Amish have bought it now and there is a huge white house on both sides of the road. I stalked them a little and took a few pictures from up the road.

Met up with my sister in law yesterday and we took a little trip up thru farm country to a town named Kalona so I could get some cheese curds to take home. It is a huge cheese factory, and if you have never had fresh cheese curds, I just can't explain them to you. But they are the fresh product in the production of cheeses, and the squeek on your teeth. Wonderful.

I am getting the knack of weaving. Love it. The biggest job was to learn how to string up the loom. But I have the best teacher and if I make a mistake, I am sure its because we are yakking too much. Don't get to bed till almost midnight. Weather has been great, cool, but mostly sunny. Have taken alot of pictures around this little town. I will put some links up later to direct you to this little county that boasts either one or no stop light in the county. Look up Villages of Van Buren County and you can find it. I am in Bentonsport. Now that's all the info I can give out to protect the innocent, ya know? I will post pictures when I get back to my computer

Oh, the boss is getting up, so I have to get out of here and get busy, {she is a slave driver} but don't tell her I said so.

Thought for the day: If you have a price to pay, the sooner you pay it, the less it costs you. (those words of wisdom, fresh from the mouth of the "boss" as she came out of the bedroom!

PS Hi to my sis in Mo. that reads my blog. And to her and to my friend Jan, send me an e-mail and I will pick it up from here and can send a reply. I didn't bring any e-mail addresses with me.

Leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again!

Actually I am driving. Headed out Sat on some alone time for 8 or 9 days! Well sort of alone. Headed to Ia. to spend time visiting old friends and some family, too. But mostly to stay with my "girlhood" friend and learn how to loom rugs. Yea, thats right, never know when that skill may come in handy. Been wanting to do this for years when I was up there last spring I found that she has a table top size loom and I told her that was just the right size for me, to hold onto it and I would be up. Promise to bring back some pictures. There is a long story here so maybe someday I will write it.

Just finished a very good book. If you want a really good read, pick up The Other Boleyn Girl! By Phillippa Gregory. Learn a little history too, The setting is in the 1500's. Women we have come along way, let me tell you. I know there is a movie, is it here yet? I never know when I see one advertised if its here or coming soon, as I rarely go to movies. I did see a movie for TV coming in April that is from the book I read last month, so hope I remember to watch it or tape it. The Memory Keepers Daughter. It was a good book so I look forward to seeing what they did to make it a movie.

Well got lists to make and them I am hitting the road. Now do I want peace and quiet or CD's to listen to, hmmmmmmmmmm?

Thought for the day: Whatever we Think about, Thank about, We bring about!

I love "Bare" jokes!

Gotcha! But I really do love bear jokes. These are my favorites. Another favorite is the campers in a tent, and a bear is reaching under the edge feeling around with his paw, and the Lady says,"George, cut that out." Well there is my humor for this Friday foggy day.


Thought for the day: Two fish swim into a concrete wall. The one turns to the other and says "Dam!"

I Am Getting All Techy!!

My horoscope for today. Pretty cool!

Your creativity will really be luminous today, and your mind will be drawn to light. If you can, get up extra early and watch the sunrise. You will see the world in a way you never saw it before, and who knows? You might realize that you are a morning person after all!

I just updated my Yahoo page and have all this personal stuff on it now for my home page, like local tv listings for the day, movies at local theaters, weather, and even Garfield. Now I am trying to figure out how to transfer all my favorites over so that they are not just stored on my computer. I live in a fear that the computer will crash around my ears one day and all the neat sites and files I save will go with it. My computer Geek tells me I should be storing everything off site. So maybe I will get that figured out one of these days. Baby steps!!

Got my new little mp3 player set up yesterday and loaded most of my music that I had stored on My Music onto it. Worked real well. Amazing to have something so tiny hold so much info, plus its an FM radio, can download audio books to listen to. I know I am way behind alot of folks here but hey, I am traveling at my own pace and it feels good.

On the Up side,weather is awesome, sun shining, clear, and going to be up in the 70's today. On the down side, gas is too high! Yikes over 3$ and going up everyday. Guess we all need to really think before we get behind the wheel!!

Thought for the day: Once you get people laughing, they're listening and you can tell them almost anything". :)

Amor fati (Love what is)

I swiped that from a book that I just finished and feel the need to put my thoughts down about it. The title is: Drinking the Rain, by Alix Kates Shulman. Printed in 1995, it covers 10 years of her life from age 50 to 60. In her younger years she was very active in teaching, writing, and marching for women's rights. At age 50 she feels the need to have some solitude to really learn more about herself, so she goes to spend the summer totally alone in a cabin at the end of an island off Maine. She ends up pretty much living off the land, and learns all the bounty that the sea and island has to offer. She returns year after year. She opens her eyes to see the beauty in living so simple and close to the earth and it changes her and how she views everything.

I reallly enjoyed the book and found it really not so mysterious why I chose it to read. Actually I have a stack of books that I plan to read and this one was pulled out randomly and when I started it was amazing how it tied in with what I have been thinking and feeling myself. It seems everywhere I turn I see these "signs" that are directing me. I have been reading Depok Chopra for some time and just finished one of his books and am anxious to get his new one, and am now reading Ekart Tolle's book, The New Earth. Some will scoff at this as nonsense but one of the statements in the beginning of the book, if you are not already becoming "awake" just put the book down and don't waste you time or money. You have to be ready to be awakened and truly See. And I think that is what this book Drinking the Rain was about. And the Amor fati, was a quote from the book.

So I stop with that thought "Love what is" Couldn't that just change your whole perspective on life. And as Ekart says, "Accept what is< then action can follow"

Thought for the day: "Happiness is not something ready made...It comes from your own actions."---Dalai Lama

Zumba! Me???

Oh, I can't believe I got talked into this! A friend came by yesterday and asked if I wanted to go to an exercise class that one of the Joplin hospitals is sponsoring 2 nites a week. Another friend was going with her and they are both a few years older than me, so I thought "What the heck, I will give it a try." Well if you don't know what Zumba is, look it up in google!! Its a little Merengue, Salsa, and Samba. Oh, my!

But what a HOT instructor. 6 pack abs, tanned. A mother of a 12 year old! She was amazing. If I can make my butt move 1/10th of the action she has going I will be thrilled. I was really pooped about 10 min. from the end, so was basically down to just stepping in place by that time, boy what a slug. And here I am so proud of the fact that I have hardly missed a day on my tread mill since Jan 1. Maybe I should put down my book and increase my speed a little!

So a little IBU and I will give it another try tomorrow nite. Wish we had more than one day to recup..

Thought for the day: If swimming is so good for your figure, how do you explain whales?